Course Syllabus

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COURSE SYLLABUS

EDRE 6524: Qualitative Research Methods II

 Instructor

Dr. Elizabeth G. Creamer

creamere@vt.edu

Professor

Office Hours: By appointment (in phone or person) OR

MONDAY, 1:30-3:30

Educational Research & Evaluation

Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Virginia Tech

 

Office Location:

1750 Kraft Drive

Corporate Research Center

Room 2103

Office Phone: 540-231-8441

Cell: 540-449-9256

 

 

Course Pre-requisites

Do not enroll for this course unless you have taken QUAL 1 or the equivalent and/or have experience with descriptive qualitative coding.

Course Description

This course pursues issues raised in the first semester course, EDRE 6614: Introduction to Qualitative Research. Like the first semester course, this course has a large “how to” or hands-on component. The first qualitative course focused on interviewing as a strategy for data collection and basic, descriptive coding. This class focuses on observation as a data collection strategy and theoretical or conceptual coding. The activities in the course will help you to have a much clearer sense about the steps to developing a conceptual framework from qualitative data. This is critical to being prepared to do a dissertation using qualitative analytical strategies.

My teaching philosophy is that learning is best achieved through doing and collaboration. Each class session generally follows a similar format with the first half devoted to reviewing and discussing the readings. The second portion of the class involves the “hands on” portion where we will practice/experience the different steps in analyzing qualitative data and producing a grounded theory.

Course Objectives

The main objectives of this class are for students to learn to

(1) distinguish low- from high-quality articles claiming to utilize a grounded theory methodology and

(2) follow a systematic set of strategies to develop a context-based grounded theory.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Understand the assumptions and steps associated with developing a grounded theory and its application to a real-world problem.
  2. Define key terms associated with the GT method.
  3. Write conceptually rich field notes and memos.
  4. Systematically apply a set of criteria to evaluate the quality of the methods used in grounded theory publications.
  5. Distinguish appropriate and inappropriate applications of the GT label.
  6. Use features of the qualitative software, NVIVO, to advance a conceptual framework.
  7. Develop and systematically apply open, focused, and theoretical coding to qualitative data.
  8. Draw a figure to depict steps in the process of developing a  grounding theory

Course Summary:

Date Details Due